Fragility of the Mighty
by TheBeingOfEverything
Summary: Yusuke contemplates life, throws a sweet party, and realizes he's not quite ready to retire yet. Or rather, the world isn't yet ready for him to retire. *Gift fic for MoonClaimed for being the 100th reviewer of Retrospective Days.


(A/N) This one-shot is a gift to MoonClaimed for being the 100th viewer on my Retrospective Days fic. They asked for a fic of just good old yyh characters hanging out. I hope this is what you had in mind! Also, it's been a long, long time coming and I'm sorry for taking forever with this, I am an awful person for making you wait so long :{

* * *

"Holy crap! Is this really your place, Urameshi?"

"Yeah, stupid, this is really my place."

"Hey!"

Yusuke laughed and sidestepped Kuwabara's fake jab at his side, continuing on to the towering structure in the distance. He could hear his friend's grumbles as he jogged to catch up.

The windswept desert went on for miles around them and on the horizon the pillars of stone that made up the Toushin's kingdom stood out in a stark contrast to the blood red sky. Yusuke would hardly call it homey, but since he'd come back to the Makai, he'd been making some interior changes for his own comfort. Not that he was a particularly demanding individual, the apartment he'd grown up in being particularly shabby, but some habits from the Ningenkai were hard to break.

Yusuke cast a grin towards Kuwabara as his friend babbled about what he was expecting to see in Yusuke's "palace", animated excitement in every motion of his body. The Toushin had been spending most of the past year in the Ningenkai and the year before that, in the Makai. Each place he'd been in had had a form of reunion where whoever was in that world at the time would meet up at either Yusuke's or Genkai's.

So it was time for another reunion. This time someone had decided that the entire group should meet up in one place to throw what was looking to be their biggest party yet. Most of the one-time detective's friends were close enough in either world so he was able to see them whenever he felt like traveling. But the two groups- three, if you count the friends from Reikai- weren't able to meet up so often and usually stuck to whichever party was closest.

The last time they'd gotten together, some genius had mentioned Yusuke's inherited lands in the Makai and suddenly everyone thought it'd be a good idea to crash his place for the big party. Besides which, Yusuke didn't think Genkai would even let them host such a huge event at her place, citing possible damage costs and her general hermit-like tendencies.

He was right, of course.

Genkai had grinned and agreed, saying it'd be nice if they destroyed someone else's home with their drunken rowdiness for a change.

So that was that. Yusuke was escorting Kuwabara, the last to arrive, and then they'd all spend the weekend causing Hokushin and the rest of the monks to go into rage-induced fits trying to contain the damage of not one, but both groups combined.

All in all, a good time. Really.

He's sure they've seen and been through worse under Raizen, anyways. No one related to Yusuke is ever going to be any less than a handful to manage.

The towering sand buildings were now almost overhead as the two long-time friends reached the outskirts of the city.

Kuwabara huffed out a fatigued breath, stretching as he surveyed the "kingdom."

"So, uh, you guys have running water here, right?"

"No, Kuwabara, we just kinda roll around in the sand to clean up. Why? Too outdoorsy for you?"

"You wish, Urameshi. Don't try to hold out on me here, I know you've got tons of cool stuff hidden in there you're just trying to hoard all to yourself," Kuwabara grinned making grabby motions towards the castle.

"What am I? A dragon? That's Hiei's schtick," Yusuke retorted.

"Yeah, an ugly one, too. Is that overgrown mullet supposed to be cool?" Kuwabara said, sticking out his tongue as he referenced Yusuke's decision to mimic his Toushin form's aesthetics. He'd begun taking on more of his demonic traits over the years, citing them as being badass.

The two stared at each other while the wind whistled through the dry sandstone buildings around them.

Yusuke tugged on his ponytailed hair, as if just realizing the fashion choices he'd made.

A smirk formed on his lips, and seeing it, one formed on Kuwabara's as well.

Yusuke broke first, perpetually unable to remain serious for long, busting out laughing at the inanity of the conversation and the way things never seemed to change.

Kuwabara joined in and their laughter followed after them as they continued on towards the center where their friends awaited them.

* * *

"My favorite thing about Urameshi is he always knows how to throw a party, the ol' bugger," Chu grinned, arms crossed in pride as he watched humans and demons, alike taking advantage of the copious booze he'd brought with him.

Kurama smiled at him while Hiei, having been coerced into joining them instead of hiding in the rafters like usual, grumbled and tried to avoid Chuu's occasional overly-affectionate shoulder pats.

"The Detective doesn't actually do anything, just invites everyone and lets them plan things for him," Hiei scoffed.

"Ahhahahahaa, too right you are," Chuu agreed, loudly, if Hiei's wince was anything to go by.

"Aw c'mon, Short-stuff, that's rude, and after all I've done for you, too," Yusuke said from behind their group, his hand coming down to pat forcefully on Hiei's back.

Kurama grinned at Hiei's pissy snarl while Chu outright guffawed.

"Some guys are just ungrateful, is all," Kuwabara said, meandering over to Yusuke's other side, staring upwards as if in innocent, contemplative thought, continuing with, "yup, not me, though. I recognize Urameshi's efforts."

"Sure it's not because you want the free food and the chance to see a certain lady friend of yours?" Yusuke snarked.

Hiei turned a murderous gaze on Yusuke for bringing up the sister-subject.

Yusuke smiled guilelessly before turning his attention towards the rest of the room.

"So who's all here?"

"Everyone, basically, though Shishi couldn't make it," Kurama answered, "they're all wandering around, getting into things they shouldn't be, I'm sure."

"Sounds like a good time," Yusuke said, stretching his arms out and getting comfortable, "I'm gonna head over and see how everyone's doing."

"Make sure Hiei gets a few more drinks in him by the time I get back!" The former detective called over his shoulder as he departed.

Kuwabara snickered at Hiei's affronted face, "you heard the man, let's go, Half-pint."

"I'm not above killing you in the Detective's own home," Hiei said casually, crossing his arms and giving Kuwabara an un-amused look.

"Yep, it's good to see you again, too," Kuwabara said quickly, "and how are you today, Kurama? Isn't it a fantastic day for living?"

"You guys are a riot," Chuu said at their antics, "you'd all make for some bloody quality entertainment as a Ningen TV show. I'd sure as hell watch it!"

"If Hiei wouldn't scare off the film crew I'd have to agree with you. We're quite charming," Kurama said, smiling at the thought of it.

"Hiei, scare people? No, he's just too cuddly," Kuwabara said, voice gushing with a mix of baby-talk and just held back laughter.

"Right, that's it, I'm killing the fool and setting fire to the Detective's place," Hiei said, holding his hand out in preparation of summoning a fireball.

"Not with my precious booze here, you're not," Chuu said, "at least wait for me to get it to safety!"

So saying the demon hastened towards the beverage table, ostensibly to save his booze but more likely to get another drink.

"Aw man, you scared off the life of the party," Kuwabara said, pouting after the retreating figure.

"Ah well, I'm going to go talk to the only important person in any of the three worlds, and especially the most important person in this place," Kuwabara said, brightening up as he spoke, "where's my sweet Yukina?"

"Che," Hiei muttered and vanished as he tired of the conversation. Also he definitely didn't want to be near Kurama once Kuwabara wandered away in search of his "sweet Yukina".

The fox would be incorrigible.

* * *

Yep, it was shaping up to be one hell of a party.

Yusuke finished regaling Touya and Jin with one of his more recent escapades while he'd been in the Ningenkai, leaving them in a mixture of shaking their heads and laughing at the ridiculous situations that only he seemed to find himself in.

It had been an hour into the party and he had already made the rounds, feeling more content than he ever had in his entire life.

Yusuke took the lull in activity to wander away to a point in the room where he could survey everyone.

The Toushin swirled his drink around without touching it, watching the way his friends talked amongst each other, Even Hiei having made his way back down from wherever he'd run off to.

And there was Koenma, somehow having made his way to the party despite the mountainous load of paperwork that must be piling up without his attentions. Yusuke suspected the current ruler of Reikai must have pawned the work off to some poor ogre.

Yusuke shuddered thinking about being forced into doing paperwork. That's what he had the monks for.

He watched Botan laughing uproariously with a crowd of youkai, something she never would have had the courage to do at the beginning of it all. The blue-haired pilot of the River Stix was always busy nowadays, still the head of the Ferry girls and now covering all the backload of souls to be re-processed after Enma's scandal. She and Koenma had been lucky to make it out.

Only Yusuke was still messing around. The most responsible thing he'd done was finish high school and start working the ramen stand.

Really, now that he thought back to those early days of skipping school, it was a wonder he'd ever graduated at all.

It was... amazing, Yusuke decided, thinking back to where it had all began and where he was at now. If he'd been told this is how it would all turn out that day he'd died, well, Yusuke smiled at the sheer thought of it, he probably would have socked the person who tried that.

Well, he'd punched a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Some crackpot coming up and telling him he was going to die saving the world a few times, hang out with youkai, and actually have real friends would have been reason enough.

He'd been such an angry scared kid at the start of it all, lashing out at the world and everyone in it.

Hell, looking at Keiko, his oldest friend, standing next to Shizuru and Rinku right then as if it was the most natural thing in the world for all of them to be talking.

It was impossible to believe anyone had stuck around him when he'd been such a prickly bastard.

Seeing his two worlds colliding with each other was pretty humbling.

Yusuke snorted softly at the thought, he was starting to turn into an old man, or something. Instead of having the wildest party of his life with the others he was over in the corner soliloquizing about times gone past. Genkai would kick his ass if she knew he was over her right now.

He searched for his old teacher in the crowd until he found her destroying the competition of anyone who dared to challenge her to one of the various games Yusuke had set up in the arcade portion of the room.

He smiled when he saw her triumphant smirk and Suzuka, her current victim, fall to the floor in dramatic defeat. The tears were a nice added effect, really let the gathered onlookers feel his pain.

Yusuke's smile widened when his gaze wandered and stopped on Hiei actually standing and talking with Yukina. He hadn't yet convinced the fire-demon to fess up to the two's relation but it still made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever the siblings' spoke to each other.

Just seeing the way Hiei's expression relaxed and opened up to something other than his surly front and the way Yukina seemed to get a wistful smile on her face like, maybe she suspected and was alright with the way things were made Yusuke have to squash the odd urge to hug them- and probably end up skewered by Hiei and poor Yukina would cry and then Hiei would have to kill him more, so, really, it was best Yusuke controlled those occasional out of character impulses.

He let himself contemplate that scenario a bit more before deciding he'd have to try it out at some point in his life, just to see what happened and because he was an awful friend who liked poking things until they erupted, and seriously how did anyone hang out with him?

Yusuke shook his head and forced himself to move on.

His attention lingered over the many friends he'd made. He saw his dad's old friends in a drinking contest with Chuu and Jin, various others placing bets on who would prevail.

'I'd join in if I didn't know for sure every one of them can drink me under the table,' he thought, remembering the first time he'd tried.

Yeah, that had been a bad morning the next day.

He saw Kurama moving through the crowed, the ancient fox looking about as content as Yusuke felt. The ex-thief (although some would say not-so-ex, but that couldn't be proven) went by, graceful and with a serene smile to those he passed until he spotted Yusuke and changed his course.

"Hey Fox-boy," Yusuke said when Kurama reached him, "don't worry, I'm not being anti-social, just taking a break."

"No, I'd say it's alright for you to take a moment to enjoy this," Kurama said, smiling and moving to lean against the wall next to the Toushin, "after-all, it's good to savor these moments."

"Yeah, I'll say," Yusuke said, relaxing next to his friend, "I just keep thinking this can't be real. Like I'll wake up and be fourteen again and a moody, ungrateful little shit, you know?"

"Yes, I know what you mean," Kurama said, turning knowing green eyes on Yusuke.

And yeah, Yusuke had to admit, of all people, Kurama would know what that felt like. He guessed that's why he only really let himself be all sentimental like this around the fox. Although, thinking about it, Hiei and Kuwabara would have a pretty good idea about what he was feeling too. No one could say any of their lives had been a walk in the park.

Kurama had just been the one to find Yusuke when he happened to be in one of those moods.

"Hey, thanks for humoring me all the way back then when we first met," Yusuke said, "I don't know how any of this would have turned out if you hadn't decided to pull your crazy stunt and then convince Hiei to do parole later. Like, that was an actual miracle you pulled."

"Yusuke," Kurama began, gesturing to the gathered group, "none of this would have ever even been conceivable if you hadn't been who you are. Half of us would perhaps not be alive and certainly not anywhere near as happy had you not bowled you way into our lives and changed everything."

Yusuke quieted, speechless at his friend's words, and rubbed at his arm in absent self-consciousness.

"Everyone in this room has you to thank for the joy they feel today and every one of them would tell you the same if you asked them, although perhaps not so straightforwardly," Kurama continued with humor.

"We may have helped you on your journey but this story is about you. You are the linchpin that holds us all together in your orbit. We are all here because you brought us together."

"Never doubt your importance," Kurama finished, reaching out with a smile to grasp Yusuke's shoulder in a firm grip, gently shaking the detective to make sure he understood the sincerity of his words.

"H-hey you're making me blush, here, fox-boy," Yusuke said, fighting said blush down but unable to contain his grin at those affirming words.

"But seriously, thanks. A guy needs to hear that every now and then," Yusuke said grinning wider before tossing his drink back and shaking the empty cup. He could see Rinku already passed out- who had given the him alcohol?- and Suzuka carting the poor kid to one of the rooms to sleep it off. The former clown looked like he was done for the night, too. Neither one of them had any tolerance levels so they always clocked out early.

Which, you know, more drinks for Yusuke, then!

"Well, that's enough nostalgia for now, I think I'm ready to head back to the party. Go drag Hiei back from wherever he's hiding. I saw him retreat back up there a little bit ago and I think he's had enough of a break."

"Agreed," Kurama said, nodding with a smirk and leading the way back to everyone.

Yusuke smiled and had to fight the sudden itchy feeling of tears and emotions that built up as he watched his friend walk away.

The Toushin began to make his own way towards his friends and family, already anticipating the rest of the night.

That was when the floor started spinning and he registered a small sharp pain sting at his neck.

"I don't... feel so good, guys," Yusuke murmured to himself, feeling a spreading numbness and seeing the familiar blackening of his vision that heralded passing out.

'Help'

Yusuke collapsed.

* * *

"Yusuke!"

Kurama turned sharply when he heard a jarring thud that he recognized all too well as a body hitting the floor.

He was at Yusuke's side almost an instant later, turning his friend's body over as he frantically searched for signs of a wound.

"What happened to the Detective?"

Kurama flinched at the unexpected voice until he realized it was Hiei, the demon had arrived seconds behind him, having been the next to notice something was horribly wrong.

"He's collapsed," Kurama said, attention already leaving Hiei to focus on the more important matter.

"Yes, Fox, I can see that. Why has he collapsed?" Hiei snapped back, kneeling down to join Kurama in searching Yusuke.

Their search became more rushed as Yusuke's breath started to come out in shallow gasps and his lips took on an alarming purple color.

Their frantic movements quickly brought the party to a grinding halt.

"Move your asses!" Genkai shouted, having come over with the rest of the crowd, "he doesn't have all day at the rate he's looking!"

"Oh no, is there something I can do to help?" Yukina said from Genkai's side.

"What's wrong with Urameshi?" Kuwabara shouted, trying to be heard over everyone else shouting similar questions.

"There! On his neck!" Hiei stated, twisting Yusuke's head with surprising care to show the crowd, "there's a faint mark and I can see some kind of liquid gathering from the entrance wound."

"Ok, step aside and let Yukina, Kurama, and myself deal with this," Genkai ordered, moving in to look at where Hiei had indicated, the demon already handing him off to another and vanishing without a word, presumably to look for the perpetrator. Genkai paused and gestured at the former shinobi standing nearby, "you had better take a look as well. We need all poison experts in on this."

"Someone has targeted our boy and managed to get to him in his own damn home through what should have been an impenetrable guard of the strongest demons this damn level of the Makai."

She snapped up and glared out at the rest of the crowd, "everyone else, spread out and find who did this, I want them found. Now!"

"Aye-aye, ma'am," Chuu said, voice low and echoed by the others before they began the frantic search.

"Oh, no, not again," Botan said, voice choked up with tears and hands worrying at her hair with lack of anything else to do, "I hate this. Why does this always happen?"

"Is he going to be okay?" Keiko whispered, hands clenched into fists at her sides as she stared, frozen. Once again she found herself watching Yusuke on death's door, unable to help in any way, absolutely useless to do anything because she was still just a human in all of this craziness and she had forgotten that until this moment.

"Don't you worry, Keiko, there's no one better n' these guys to fix him up," Kuwabara grit out, standing besides her and forcing himself to look away from his best friend's still body to offer comfort, "and when I find who did this to 'im I'm going to... well, I can't really say what I'm going to do 'cus I might think of something more deserving of the monster when I find them."

"Thanks, Kuwabara," Keiko said, voice thick with the tears she could now feel running down her cheeks, her voice grew fainter as she trailed off, "I think I'll get out of their way- let them do their jobs."

"You get them, Kuwabara, and make sure you bring them back alive," Botan ordered, tone vicious, "I want to hit them a few times for this."

"Be careful, Kazuma, don't let yourself end up like Yusuke," Shizuru cautioned, hoping he would actually heed her warning.

"He'll be fine," Kuwabara stated again to himself, reaffirming Keiko and Botan but not paying attention anymore. He took off without acknowledging them, determination in his steps and anger in his eyes.

"Come on, girl, let's go sit you down."

Keiko nodded, mute, as she was lead away by Shizuru and Botan, eyes tracking Yusuke the whole time.

* * *

Hiei snarled to himself, darting through the rough-hewn stairwells, to reach the highest point in Yusuke's domain.

He'd removed his headband and the world was thrown in shades of purple as the fire-youkai scanned every nook and cranny for the unseen assailant. He barely registered the others also on the hunt except to categorize them as familiar and not the target.

Hiei bared his teeth in what could have passed for a smile in hell. He hoped he was the one who found the Detective's mystery attacker first.

* * *

"Let's see, if I were a murderous scumbag, where would I be?"

"Still talking to yourself, I see."

"Shut it, Koenma," Kuwabara said as he paced around in circles down one of the many corridors, "can't you see I'm trying to concentrate here?"

"Sure you're just not lost?" Koenma said.

The ruler of Reikai crossed his arms, still in his teenaged form for the festivities, and watched Kuwabara wear a groove in the floor.

"Walking in circles won't find anyone. Also, aren't you supposed to be a psychic? Just wander around until you feel something," Koenma tried again. Sometimes his former detective team needed a little coaching to figure things out. They were getting lazy on him since they'd retired.

"That's not how that works, Koenma," Kuwabara grumbled. Then he blinked and stopped pacing, his mind processing the automatic response and Koenma's suggestion, "okay, maybe that is how it works."

"Honestly, you'd think you'd never gone through rigorous training with Genkai to hone those psychic abilities," Koenma said, sighing and rubbing his forehead in disbelief.

"Whatever you say, Koenma," Kuwabara said, waving his hand in distraction, "I'm off to go save Urameshi. See ya'. Thanks!"

"Wait-" Koenma called out to Kuwabara's retreating figure, "oh, never mind, I'll just head back then. Not like I'm any good at this searching business."

"And what would I do with the guy if I even found them?"

Koenma chuckled to himself as he hurried back to the main hall.

* * *

Kurama diverted his attention from Yusuke for a second as he noticed Koenma re-enter the room from one of the side halls.

"I'll assume you were unable to find our culprit, then?" Kurama said, going back to carefully extracting a hollow needle from where it had been found, fallen into Yusuke's shirt collar.

"Trust me, if I had you would have heard me screaming for help for miles away," Koenma deadpanned.

"I'll take you word for it," Kurama said, his mouth turning up at the corners in a humorless grin that quickly faded as he examined the weapon.

"Here, there's some of the poison still left in the tip," the fox said, handing what he'd found over to Jin and Touya.

"I feel like we should be wearing gloves, or somethin'. " Jin mumbled out, taking the needle with care and grimacing at the thought, "Last thing we need is to end up like our poor boy, Urameshi, here."

Of course, with his accent it came out a little differently than that but Kurama and Touya were used to deciphering the wind master's unique way of speaking.

"Yes, let's hope you don't sneeze any time soon. Wouldn't want to lose our only sample," Touya commented.

"Yeesh, then we'd really be outta luck," Jin said.

Genkai and Yukina had tried to stabilize Yusuke earlier but to no avail. Neither of the healers were poison experts and knew they'd be better served preparing the hospital room for Yusuke once he was able to be moved.

They'd taken Shizuru and Keiko with them, wanting to keep the girls safe and figuring the hospital portion of the castle would be the best place for that.

Genkai had lead them from the room, pausing to take a long look at her former apprentice before seeming to force herself to leave his side.

Kurama had barely noticed beyond nodding in the groups departing direction and going over which of his plants could be used to slow the toxin's spread.

He was returned to the present when he heard Yusuke release a pained groan, letting his head fall back and making them pause while he took in a shallow lungful of air before he subsided again. Even more worrying, the Toushin's tattoos had begun flickering to life on his skin, his reikai and youkai energy pulsing out around his skin with every breath. It was a sign how much his body was fighting but Kurama could see Yusuke was losing the fight.

"It's a good thing you stalled the toxin, Kurama or we'd be a bit more pressed for time," Touya said after a tense moment.

"Agreed, let's get back to determining how to counteract this." Kurama said, nodding.

"Can't have a man dying at his own party, can you?" Jin pointed out in morbid humor.

They forced themselves to turn their attention away from Yusuke and back to their work.

* * *

Hiei scowled in concentration, focusing his search in wider and wider circles from his vantage point at the peak of the sandstone tower.

Whoever had orchestrated this was good, both at hiding as well as planning.

Of course, the youkai realized, they could have been ordered and the task planned out by someone else with a grudge. Though who would hold a grudge against the detective after the good he'd done in opening up Ningen, Youkai, and Reikai relations was a mystery to Hiei.

While he didn't particularly like humans, Hiei could still see the benefits of having open travel between the worlds. Youkai no longer being hunted down like animals by the SDF or Tantei was one of those benefits, reduced Reikai influence in their politics was another.

Really, once the Reikai got its grubby hands out of the other world's business, things were going much more smoothly.

Hiei, despite his musings, was still searching the area when he noticed the fool, Kuwabara, stumbling through one of the deeper passages beneath the detective's home.

"Che, he's probably hopelessly lost," the youkai muttered.

He began to look away from Kuwabara, deciding he could always go back later and find him once they'd captured the attacker. Then a flicker in the air around the fool made Hiei zero his focus back.

He was darting down the stairs an instant later, adrenalin pushing his steps.

Because of course the fool would attract the target, he was a damned bumbling accident waiting to happen!

Hiei just hoped he made it in time. The detective would never forgive him if he let his best friend die.

* * *

"Okay, so I turned right here, and left at this hall? Or was it the next one?"

Kuwabara stood, scratching his head in frustration as he stared down yet another long, sandstone hallway that looked exactly like all the others he'd passed. It didn't help that the darn lights were set to "mood-lighting".

Who was Urameshi trying to woo in the Makai, exactly?

"Man, how does Urameshi ever get around this place? It's not like he has any sense of direction," Kuwabara said.

He had been following a faint instinct that had told him to come down here but honestly didn't know if it was his senses pointing him in the right direction or the funny food he'd been convinced by Chuu to try earlier.

Of course, Kuwabara didn't know how he was going to actually catch the guy once he found him since it looked like he was invisible and could get through an entire building undetected.

"Man I wish the rest of the guys were hear," Kuwabara sighed and gave up trying to figure out where he was, heading down a random corridor.

Much as he wished it, he knew Kurama was doing his best to stabilize Urameshi and Hiei was scanning what Kuwabara couldn't reach with the Jagan.

"Why does this stuff keep happening to us," he said, complaining to himself to pass the time and end the stifling silence, "I mean, five minutes, that's all I ask for. You'd think after all we've done we could find a break in there for a little bit."

"And seriously, the first time I've been to Urameshi's sweet castle and they gotta pick now? Not even a few days later when we're sleeping off hangovers or something?"

"I didn't even get to talk to my sweet Yukina for long, neither," Kuwabara groused, reaching another hallway end and trailing off. It was no fun when the rest of the guys weren't there to get annoyed.

Something itched his ear and he bowed his head as he scratched at it, just missing a glint as a needle flew past where his head had been and into the wall in front of his eyes.

"Holy crap!"

Kuwabara turned, realizing the itch had been the only thing saving him from the ignoble fate of dying alone and lost in the tunnels beneath Urameshi's castle.

"You've better senses than that pathetic half-breed, but I wonder how long you can avoid joining him in death?"

The source of the needle and the voice flickered into existence before his eyes and he gulped as he realized he should have considered that the villain could in fact be a girl and to stop automatically assuming bad-guys were bad 'guys' from now on.

"No one can help you down here, human," the dark, scale-skinned woman grinned and serpentine fangs peeked out from her thin lips as slit-pupiled, green eyes narrowed on him. Her black hair trailed down in a sleek braid that looked as whip-sharp as the rest of her.

Kuwabara didn't stay to listen or analyze her anymore than that, hightailing it around the corner.

'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap'

Kuwabara wanted nothing more than to pulverize the youkai who was currently chasing him down but he had become a lot more realistic over the years.

Sure, he probably stood a decent chance of taking her down, but Kurama had drilled into his head over and over to never face an unknown opponent alone if he could help it.

After all, the fox had said, Kuwabara was much more sensible than both Hiei and Yusuke and should therefore not rush into battle like they always did. And, well, then the lesson had devolved as Kurama had to defend himself against a peeved Hiei and Yusuke who hadn't appreciated being told they were not sensible.

Kuwabara yelped as he flinched from another few needles thrown his way.

He ducked around another corner and threw up his hand, reiken slashing to life in its brilliant orange light. He shot it like knives behind him as he resumed running, hoping a few would hit or he could draw attention to himself by expending energy.

"Come on, someone's gotta notice me running for my life, here!"

"No one can hear you, child"

"Hey, I'm a man!"

Okay, so arguing with the bad-guy wasn't going to help him any but at this point it was instinctual to Kuwabara. Well, it's not like the rest of the guys didn't have the same problem, too. They were a mouthy bunch of bastards.

And then he found himself cornered at a dead-end.

"Oh, come on, why is this even a thing at Urameshi's? Does he not have better people to design this place?"

Seriously, who puts a hallway leading to nothing in a castle, and why were there so many rooms? That many people did not live here!

"I am so yelling at Urameshi about this later," Kuwabara said, staring up at the blank wall before him in dread.

"You will have to tell him when you see him next, along with all of your pitiful group, in the afterlife."

"Crap," Kuwabara said, turning to face the youkai as she rounded the corner behind him.

He brought his sword up as she raised her hands, showing the delicate needles she was preparing to throw at him.

"Don't bother with last words, no one will hear them who cares," she stated, bringing her hand to her mouth and filling the needles with venom she'd gathered from her own fangs.

"Oh, gross," Kuwabara said, unable to come up with anything beyond that.

The youkai smiled and-

And she dropped, hand falling limp beside her head and scattering the dangerous needles on the ground.

"Wonderful last words, truly something to be remembered by."

"Hiei!"

"Hn, leave it to you to attract the enemies with your apparent weakness," Hiei stated, returning his sword to its sheath from when he'd used it to knock the youkai unconscious, "is it fun, acting as bait all the time?"

"Oh, shut it, you never would have found her without me," Kuwabara argued back, "and I had it totally under control. This was my plan all along!"

"Of course, and now we have to make our way up multiple flights of stairs to get back to the detective, marvelous plan," Hiei shot back, already reaching down to drag the youkai with him.

He thought better of it and handed her off to Kuwabara, leaving the other to carry the burden.

"You guys always make me carry the dead weight around," Kuwabara griped.

"It's because you make such a good pack mule," Hiei said, already beginning to run back towards the surface.

"You know what? I think it's because I'm the tallest and all you pipsqueaks are just jealous of my natural height," Kuwabara called after the youkai, hurrying to catch up.

The two continued the tirade with each other, even as they picked up their pace.

Sure, they'd found their culprit, but who knew how far gone Yusuke was in the time they'd taken.

* * *

"Nothing's working," Jin said, his pointed ears drooping in dejection.

Kurama didn't respond to that statement, mind scurrying as he stared at the seeds he'd laid out on the ground. He knew he'd already gone through anything he had that could help and cursed himself for not carrying more anti-toxins on his person.

Long ago, Yoko had both utilized and held an extensive amount of poisonous plants, even going so far as to gather venomous samples from the demonic creatures of the Makai, most just because he was interested in their effects, some just for collections sake.

Kurama was going to have to restock after this ordeal. He refused to be caught off guard like this again.

"We've narrowed it down to a serpent venom of some sort but without the source we're not likely to be able to reverse it without some anti-venom or a way to produce more of it," Touya murmured to himself. They'd discovered that the small sample would not be enough earlier and horror had bitten at their chests since then.

They were startled out of their thoughts when Yusuke began convulsing. By this point his body had completely changed to his youkai form, his reikai having run out trying to preserve his failing body.

And now it seemed his youkai was failing as well.

"He's fading!"

Kurama felt his heart thud in his chest, outwardly trying to make sure Yusuke didn't crack his head on the floor or bite through his own tongue with too sharp teeth, but he couldn't help panicking inside because this would be the third time, dammit!

He didn't think Koenma could keep bringing Yusuke back.

"Fox!"

"Hey we got the bad guy!"

Kurama jerked around, sight zeroing in on the figure dragged over by Kuwabara as the other raced into the hall, preceded by Hiei.

"Hurry up, she's some snake lady, I saw her fill up those needles with her fangs!"

Kurama heard Hiei curse as Yusuke gave another increasingly worrying, full body convulsion but his senses were so focused that everything sounded like he was hearing it through water.

He searched the youkai for anything on her person that might help, finding more empty needles and little else.

Kurama felt his mind race, though he went over clothes with methodic movements for hidden pockets or linings. He let himself fall into that deadly calm he needed to solve this.

And as Yusuke let out another, weaker cry, Kurama found a small vial in the youkai's leg wrappings.

"Here, this may be it!" Kurama said, turning and kneeling by Yusuke.

"How do we know?" Touya questioned in alarm.

"He doesn't have time! Just give him the damn thing," Hiei snarled back.

"Hurry, Kurama!"

* * *

.

.

.

.

Yusuke felt...

Oh, god, Yusuke felt friggin' awful.

Everything was dark, muffled sounds reached his ears only to be chased away by a roaring in his head. He thought he felt someone touch his face, or was it his hand?

The Toushin couldn't tell, everything blurred together and time seemed meaningless while he drifted with the pain.

He may have blinked and woken but sight was quickly lost again.

"Yusuke."

Not now, couldn't whoever was calling him see he was taking a nap?

"Yusuke come on, you've got to wake up!"

Shouting now? Really?

Yusuke mumbled out some kind of curse at whoever was interrupting his nap and tried to turn over.

Then he felt a dropping sensation and awoke with a sudden clarity.

'Shit'

Yusuke saw the floor rising up towards him in the split second he opened his eyes and realized he was plummeting off a bed.

He had just enough time to clench his eyes shut again in anticipation of the pain when his descent was halted.

"Really, detective? We save your ungrateful life and you repay us by trying to kill yourself again?"

"S'that you, Hiei? I missed that cheerful voice of yours," Yusuke grumbled, eyes still closed as he felt himself hauled back into the bed.

"Wait," Yusuke blinked his eyes open again, "what are you doing in my room? How'd the party go and why do I feel like it was a real bender of a night?"

That was when he noticed that he was not, in-fact, in his room but the hospital portion of his castle, and that there were a lot of people in his room besides Hiei.

"Um guys, did we all decide to camp out in the hospital for a reason? And why do I feel like shit? It can't have been alcohol poisoning, I don't remember drinking that much..."

"Yusuke!"

Keiko threw herself into his arms for a death-grip hug, Botan not far behind and Yusuke knew something must have happened because they would not have been that happy to see him if he'd gotten this way from drinking.

"Okay I'm guessing something must have happened," Yusuke said, trying to hide his rising concern and pretty sure he failed.

"Make any enemies we haven't heard about, recently?" Genkai drawled out, coming to stand next to the bed.

Her arms were crossed and she had her serious face on so Yusuke took that to be an actual question and not rhetorical.

"Not that I'm aware of?"

His response trailed off in a querying tone as he looked around the room, noticing that everyone looked like they couldn't figure out if they were happy to see him or about to kill someone. Keiko looked like she was going to cry and leap into his arms again so he hoped someone would answer before that happened.

"You had us in a right tizzy for awhile there, Urameshi," Jin said from where he was leaning against a wall next to Touya.

Yusuke could tell the wind master was nervous because his ears kept twitching at every slight sound like he couldn't focus on anything. And although his words were light, his voice was subdued.

"Well is somebody going to fill me in or what?"

"You almost died, Yusuke. Again," Kurama said, his voice soft and his gaze locked with Yusuke's.

"Again? Seriously?" Yusuke sputtered in disbelief.

"Yes, seriously," Genkai snapped out, not appreciating his lack of appropriate fear, "your father's friends and those monks of yours are out making contact with Yomi, Mukuro, Enki, and a few others to see if they've heard about anyone who might hold a grudge."

"Okay, cool. But did someone catch the guy who did it?"

At Yusuke's question, Kurama made a motion with his hand and a previously unnoticed grouping of vines crawled their way towards the bed.

Yusuke couldn't tell how he'd missed the very obvious plant growth in the room that definitely hadn't ever been there before.

The vines rustled as they came to a halt and began to unwind, showing an unconscious person had been tied up inside.

"Er, they're still alive, right?" Yusuke ventured, "no one got too fist happy on this one?"

"Yes. A shocker, I know," Genkai said, though her attention, as well as the rest of the room's was on the revealed youkai.

"Let's wake her up then, shall we?" Kurama said.

"Go ahead, I gotta hear who's trying to kill me this time," Yusuke responded.

Kurama waved some awful smelling thing he'd had in a jar by the bed under the youkai's nose. The pungent concoction worked in seconds and the she-youkai jolted awake, sneezing and hacking to get the smell away.

"God, Kurama, that is disgusting. Do you just carry that around on you?"

"No, Yusuke, I don't," Kurama said, somehow ignoring the smell or possibly not even breathing, and capped the solution up quickly to spare everyone having to suffer anymore.

"Never mind that," Chuu interrupted, pointing at the captured demon now glaring at everyone in the room but none more so than at Yusuke, "this sheila's awake and I think she's got some questions to be explaining to us."

"Yes, like which of her limbs she wants us to remove first," Hiei started, menace pouring out of his words.

"Not yet, Hiei," Kurama placated Hiei without taking his eyes off their sullen captive.

"Yet?" Keiko whispered in question to herself. She hoped that was rhetorical.

"Okay, lady. Talk," Yusuke ordered.

"Yes, and it had better be good," Botan added.

The Toushin leaned forward, leveling a stare at the snake youkai and the room quieted as they awaited her response.

It seemed she wasn't going to say anything for a while until she broke the stare contest and bowed her head, smirking.

"Do with me what you will, I've already failed my mission and the masters won't show me any more mercy than I deserve," she finally admitted.

"Oh great, we're dealing with a cult this time," Yusuke muttered.

She snorted at his words, grin growing wider.

"My masters are from the depths of the Makai and are more ancient and awesome than anything you pathetic surface dwelling children can comprehend."

Yusuke was about to contradict that with some snide comment when she continued. He failed to notice the elder youkai in the room stop at her words with dawning fear in their eyes.

"Not all of the Makai is happy with the way you've changed things, and you've stirred up the monsters who live deeper than you've even heard of. You should have left Reikai in control."

"Kurama, shut her up and get rid of her for a moment," Koenma said, voice booking no argument.

Kurama brought his vines up and before Yusuke could ask why, had them haul her out of the room, deaf to her yelp of surprise, before recoiling some and locking the door.

"What was that about? She was just telling us everything," Kuwabara asked, "and hey, be more gentle, she's a lady!"

"Not now, Kuwabara," Koenma dismissed," I'd feared this day would come."

"Oh, boy, what day?" Yusuke asked, already dreading the answer because he had a feeling he was going to end up on another life-or-death mission.

"Yes, what day, Koenma, sir?" Botan said. She'd never heard anything about 'masters' or 'awesome power' before. And talk of the levels of Makai didn't seem like too scary of a topic to toss their only informant out of the room.

"Remember I told you about the different levels of Makai; like basements, right?" Koenma said. He was worrying the new pacifier he gotten since the Sensui Debacle, a clear sign of his nervous habits returning.

"Sorta? Not really, no."

Honestly, Yusuke," Botan said, crossing her arms in disappointment.

"Of course not," Koenma sighed, though when he looked around the room he realized only the youkai and Genkai really knew what he was talking about so he decided to give a lecture.

"The Makai has multiple levels," he began, "Reikai only had control of the first half of the first level before I revoked our control."

"Those lower levels are..." Koenma shuddered, the thought of what lurked in the basements of the Makai was...

"Well, lets just say that there's a reason the youkai you've seen up to this point have all been relatively human looking. You know, four limbs, one head, familiar proportions, you get the idea."

"Hey, yeah I always wondered about that," Kuwabara said, blinking at the realization.

"Yes, that's because back before we put up the Kekai barrier, humans were able to enter the Makai and there was crossbreeding," Koenma said, nodding at Kuwabara in acknowledgment.

"Ok, so what?" Yusuke said.

"The youkai further down will not look human, they will not act human, and they will not be what you've come to expect when dealing with rogue youkai," Koenma responded, tone somber, "they will be unlike anything you can imagine and if you thought dealing with Sensui or fighting with Yomi in that tournament was something let me tell you it wasn't."

"Well, jeez, Koenma, give me some credit," Yusuke grumbled, "didn't you say I was an S Class or something, now?

"Yusuke," Koenma started, "we don't even have ratings for the monsters that live down there."

"What, couldn't come up with a letter after S?" Yusuke snarked.

"Hehe, got 'im," Kuwabara said and they shared a quick high-five before Genkai smacked the both of them with a hissed 'pay attention'.

"No, because we lack the knowledge to even know how to rank them," Koenma said, ignoring the interlude with years of experience at doing so, "no one we've sent has ever come back."

"Whoa, really?" Kuwabara exclaimed, "That's creepy. Like a horror movie."

"Yes, Kuwabara, like a horror movie," Koenma said, fighting back another sigh. They were technically supposed to be adults now, right?

"I've seen the portals that lead to the lower depths before," Hiei spoke up, head bowed as he relayed the information, "I never took them, even when I was at my strongest, before I'd gotten the Jagan."

"The elders always warned me never to leave the Island, and especially never to enter those portals," Yukina murmured, eyes flickering as she recalled their words to her.

"Aye, the same for us," Jin inputted while Touya nodded his agreement, "our masters made sure we knew not to go through them."

"I just didn't want to go where the booze wasn't. I couldn't leave my favorite bars, know what I mean?" Chuu said, shrugging when they looked to him, "and besides, they always felt kind of... off. Not a place any smart man should go."

"Kurama, you must have, right? You were all over the place back in the day," Yusuke said, turning to the only person who was old enough to actually have a better idea than the others.

Kurama pressed his lips in a stern line before he spoke, gathering what he would say.

"I was tempted to pass through the portals many times, never believing the rumors and warnings about them," he began, "each time, someone was there to stop me or divert my attention somewhere else."

"My curiosity and arrogance lead me to try once, however."

"Towards the end, before I was forced to flee to Ningenkai," Kurama said, staring at his hands, fingers steeled together to prevent them from clenching, "I approached one and was about to enter when I felt the most terrifying and powerful killing intent I have felt to this day coming towards me from that gateway."

"Oh man," Yusuke mumbled, unable to believe that there was something out there that scared Kurama so much.

Kurama sent a mirthless smile towards Yusuke, "indeed."

"Well, guess we're just going to have to call it a day, toss that snake-lady into a portal and be on our way," Kuwabara said, clapping his hands together to break the tension.

"Fool, they'll just keep sending more like her until the detective runs out of luck," Hiei shot back, quelling Kuwabara's attempts at diffusing the situation.

"Hey, I never run out of luck," Yusuke retorted, "it's my one good feature!"

Hiei glowered back, unable to comprehend how the detective had survived to adulthood while Chuu and Jin snickered at Yusuke because clearly they were all children.

"Yusuke would you stop?" Keiko snapped, worry causing her to over-think all the horrible things that could possibly happen, "this is serious, one of those monsters wants you dead!"

"You never know, it could be more than one monster," Yusuke said, oblivious to her rising concern, "I'm a pretty popular guy."

"Dimwit, do you have sand in your ears? Listen to what we're saying!" Genkai barked out, shutting her former pupil up before he could dig himself a bigger hole.

He shut up. She had him pretty well trained.

"So now what?" Botan asked the room at large.

Everyone paused to think about what they were getting into before Yusuke broke their contemplation.

"Well, you know what we're going to do today, right?" Yusuke said, smirking and rolling his shoulders, looking as though he was prepared to take on the world, even if he was still in bed from his newest meeting with death.

"Try to take over the world?" Kuwabara automatically responded.

"Whaa...?" Koenma said, edging away from Kuwabara.

"Ha! Yeah, maybe another day," Yusuke laughed.

He got that reference.

"We've gotta go through those portals and kick some ass," he continued, smacking his fist into his palm, "after all, the best defense is a good offense."

"Are you crazy, Urameshi?" Kuwabara yelped out, throwing his hands up at his friend's nonsense.

"Nope," Yusuke grinned, vicious cheer permeating his words, "and I know just the unlucky bastard who's going to take us there."

Kurama blinked as he understood what the Toushin was implying, "of course, she has survived entering those portals and had contact with what exists on the other side. We can use her."

"Got it in one, fox-boy," Yusuke said, pointing at Kurama like he'd just won a game show.

"Let it never be said that our lives are boring," Kurama said, a wistful smile on his face, "this will be something of a unique experience for us all, I imagine."

"Hn, it was getting dull around here anyway," Hiei said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was owed some leave time by Mukuro. He might as well use it, now. Not that he'd tell the others that.

"Well, it's not like I wanted to be a super successful doctor, make lots of money, get married, have 2.5 kids and a white picket fence, or have a normal life at all," Kuwabara huffed, "might as well throw all that away for Urameshi."

"That's the spirit, Kuwabara," Yusuke cheered.

"Thanks for supporting me, Urameshi," Kuwabara sighed.

Looking around, Yusuke caught each of his friend's gazes, feeling the excitement of a new adventure rushing up through him.

There'd be danger, almost certain death, and the adrenalin rush of not knowing what was on the other side or what they were about to face.

Yusuke couldn't wait.

End~

* * *

Extra:

"Well, guys. Pack you things, get a few days to say goodbye to your cat, Kuwabara, and get ready to leave for a new level of hell!"

"Darn it, Urameshi! You leave Eikichi out of this!"

Actual End~

* * *

(A/N) Well there you have it, folks. About 26 pages worth of good old yyh action. This was meant to be about 10 pages of good old yyh action before it spun out of my control and ended up almost 3 times that much haha There's doubtlessly some errors and plotholes in this but I was too excited to give you guys a finished fic to tide you over until the next chapter of Retrospective Days (please forgive my lateness), which will be coming soon because I'm writing that chapter next!

The prompt was the yyh guys hanging out and I kinda took it and ran with it since I'd had this concept in my head for awhile now. I always wondered what was further down in demon world. And the warnings/images Koenma described in an episode about the horrors that lurked there meant I was kinda disappointed by the human-looking demons that actually showed up when they went there. Like Mukuro, Yomi, and Raizen are badass but what happened to the world-ending demons we were told to expect? So I figured the more monstrous demons must be further down, away from human contact and influence, and this idea was born lol

Anyhoo~

Hope you enjoyed, R&R Please!


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